The Most Famous

SKIERS from Austria

This page contains a list of the greatest Austrian Skiers. The pantheon dataset contains 817 Skiers, 96 of which were born in Austria. This makes Austria the birth place of the 2nd most number of Skiers.

Top 10

The following people are considered by Pantheon to be the top 10 most legendary Austrian Skiers of all time. This list of famous Austrian Skiers is sorted by HPI (Historical Popularity Index), a metric that aggregates information on a biography’s online popularity. Visit the rankings page to view the entire list of Austrian Skiers.

1. Toni Sailer (1935 - 2009)

With an HPI of 58.84, Toni Sailer is the most famous Austrian Skier. His biography has been translated into 33 different languages on wikipedia.

Anton Engelbert "Toni" Sailer (17 November 1935 – 24 August 2009) was an Austrian alpine ski racer, considered among the best in the sport. At age 20, he won all three gold medals in alpine skiing at the 1956 Winter Olympics. He nearly duplicated the feat at the 1958 World Championships with two golds and a silver. He also won world titles both years in the combined, then a "paper" race, but awarded with medals by the International Ski Federation (FIS).

2. Franz Klammer (b. 1953)

With an HPI of 54.28, Franz Klammer is the 2nd most famous Austrian Skier. His biography has been translated into 26 different languages.

Franz Klammer (born 3 December 1953) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria. Klammer dominated the downhill event for four consecutive World Cup seasons (1975–78). He was the gold medalist at the 1976 Winter Olympics in Innsbruck, winning the downhill at Patscherkofel by a margin of 0.33 seconds with a time of 1:45.73. He won 25 World Cup downhills, including four on the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel. He also holds the record for the most victories (four) on the full course at Kitzbühel.

3. Hermann Maier (b. 1972)

With an HPI of 52.62, Hermann Maier is the 3rd most famous Austrian Skier. His biography has been translated into 47 different languages.

Hermann Maier (born 7 December 1972) is an Austrian former World Cup champion alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist. Nicknamed the "Herminator", Maier ranks among the greatest alpine ski racers in history, with four overall World Cup titles (1998, 2000, 2001, 2004), two Olympic gold medals (both in 1998), and three World Championship titles (1999: 2, and 2005). His 54 World Cup race victories – 24 super-G, 15 downhills, 14 giant slaloms, and 1 combined – rank third on the men's all-time list behind Ingemar Stenmark's 86 victories and Marcel Hirscher's 67 victories. Until 2023 he held the record for the most points in one season by a male alpine skier, with 2000 points from the 2000 season. From 2000–2013 he also held the title of most points in one season by any alpine skier, until Tina Maze scored 2414 points in the 2013 season.

4. Heinrich Messner (1939 - 2023)

With an HPI of 52.46, Heinrich Messner is the 4th most famous Austrian Skier. His biography has been translated into 16 different languages.

Heinrich "Heini" Messner (1 September 1939 – 19 October 2023) was an Austrian alpine skier. He competed at the 1964, 1968, and 1972 Olympics and won two bronze medals: in the giant slalom in 1968 and in the downhill in 1972.

5. Annemarie Moser-Pröll (b. 1953)

With an HPI of 52.34, Annemarie Moser-Pröll is the 5th most famous Austrian Skier. Her biography has been translated into 37 different languages.

Annemarie Moser-Pröll (born 27 March 1953) is a former World Cup alpine ski racer from Austria. Born in Kleinarl, Salzburg, she was the most successful female alpine ski racer during the 1970s, with an all-time women's record of six overall titles, including five consecutively. She had most success in downhill, giant slalom and combined races. In 1980, her last year as a competitor, she secured her third Olympic medal (and first gold) at Lake Placid and won five World Cup races. Her younger sister Cornelia Pröll is also a former alpine Olympian.

6. Marc Girardelli (b. 1963)

With an HPI of 51.91, Marc Girardelli is the 6th most famous Austrian Skier. His biography has been translated into 27 different languages.

Marc Girardelli (born 18 July 1963) is an Austrian–Luxembourger former alpine ski racer, a five-time World Cup overall champion who excelled in all five alpine disciplines.

7. Erik Schinegger (b. 1948)

With an HPI of 51.63, Erik Schinegger is the 7th most famous Austrian Skier. His biography has been translated into 15 different languages.

Erik Schinegger (born 19 June 1948) is an Austrian intersex skier. He was the women's downhill ski world champion in 1966, at which time he was recognized as female and known as Erika Schinegger.

8. Karl Schranz (b. 1938)

With an HPI of 51.02, Karl Schranz is the 8th most famous Austrian Skier. His biography has been translated into 20 different languages.

Karl Schranz (born 18 November 1938) is a former champion alpine ski racer from Austria, one of the best of the 1960s and early 1970s. Born and raised in St. Anton, Tyrol, Schranz had a lengthy ski career, from 1957 to 1972. He won twenty major downhills, many major giant slalom races and several major slaloms. Late in his career he was the successor to Jean-Claude Killy as the World Cup overall champion; Schranz won the title at age 30 in the third World Cup season of 1969, and repeated in 1970. He was also the downhill champion for those two seasons and was the giant slalom season champion in 1969. Schranz won both the "classic downhills" four times each: the Hahnenkamm at Kitzbühel, Austria (1966, 1969, 1972, 1972), and the Lauberhorn at Wengen, Switzerland (1959, 1963, 1966, 1969). He also excelled at the legendary Arlberg-Kandahar events, winning nine times, from 1957 (Chamonix) to 1970 (Garmisch-Partenkirchen).

9. Anderl Molterer (1931 - 2023)

With an HPI of 50.48, Anderl Molterer is the 9th most famous Austrian Skier. His biography has been translated into 17 different languages.

Andreas "Anderl" Molterer (8 October 1931 – 24 October 2023) was an Austrian alpine skier. He was born in Kitzbühel. At the 1956 Winter Olympics in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy he won silver in the giant slalom, and bronze in the downhill competition. In 1953, 1955, 1958, and 1959 he won the Hahnenkamm Race in Kitzbühel. There was no skiing world cup in these times, but Molterer most likely would have won it in 1953, 1955, 1956, and 1958. Molterer later emigrated to the United States. After running ski schools in Montana and Colorado, he settled in Tennessee. Molterer died on 24 October 2023, at the age of 92.

10. Egon Zimmermann (1939 - 2019)

With an HPI of 48.30, Egon Zimmermann is the 10th most famous Austrian Skier. His biography has been translated into 22 different languages.

Egon Zimmermann (8 February 1939 – 23 August 2019), often referred to as Egon Zimmermann II, was a World Cup alpine ski racer and Olympic gold medalist from Austria. Zimmermann won the Olympic downhill at Patscherkofel in 1964 and won several medals on the professional tour in the late-1960s and early 1970s.

People

Pantheon has 111 people classified as Austrian skiers born between 1921 and 2001. Of these 111, 100 (90.09%) of them are still alive today. The most famous living Austrian skiers include Franz Klammer, Hermann Maier, and Annemarie Moser-Pröll. The most famous deceased Austrian skiers include Toni Sailer, Heinrich Messner, and Anderl Molterer. As of April 2024, 15 new Austrian skiers have been added to Pantheon including Heinrich Messner, Anderl Molterer, and Traudl Hecher.